“Tree of Life,” written by Victor Wishna and directed by Jonah Greene, is a play about a small fictional town in Iowa and the journey of its community. The play follows a Columbian grad student named Marienella as she gets her dissertation and rediscovers her Jewish roots. Furthermore, it follows three members of the Litvak family who immigrated to America for a better life, and their journey in founding a new Jewish community.

The cast of “Tree of Life,” which opened at the White Theater in the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, KS., is stacked with talented actors, and they deliver a joyful play to watch. Each scene alternates between the house of the Litvak family in 1919, and the synagogue 100 years later in 2019, where Ken, a widower in his sixties struggles to keep his community alive. 

The person who delivered the most grounded performance was Victor Raider-Wexler. He plays Ken, who firmly believes in the synagogue’s ability to last through their tough time. His appearance on stage makes his fellow cast members more alive and animated for the entire run time of the play.

The most impactful and eye-opening scene he partakes in is a monologue. One night, when he’s staying late at the synagogue and having thoughts about the future of his community, he starts talking to himself. Within seconds it becomes clear that he’s talking to his wife, and while she isn’t physically there, his conversational skills are so natural and fluid that you understand what she would be saying. This scene is one of the most important and plot-moving scenes in the entire play, and Wishna and Greene trusted Raider-Wexler to do it all by himself. 

Besides Raider-Wexler’s ability to converse by himself, the dialogues were also very well executed. These synagogue members feel like friends, and you can feel the history of all their relationships through their chemistry. While there are many different relationships between characters throughout the play, one friendship felt the most lived in, and as a result, was my favorite: Eddie, another member of the synagogue in his mid-sixties, and Ken. Eddie and Ken are the classic old-man best friends, fighting over trivial things and constantly being sourpusses to each other. 

There’s one scene nearing the end of the play where the Litvak family and the modern-day congregation are saying Havdalah simultaneously. This is a great representation that Judaism can persist through time and traditions are the groundwork of this millennia-old religion. The same words and meaning of the Havdalah have lasted centuries, and it speaks to how resilient the Jewish tradition is. 

This is an easy example to see, but there’s one glaring difference between the two Havadallot: The Havdalah set in 1919 is spoken in Hebrew, while the one set in 2019 is spoken in English. This represents an entirely different angle of Judaism’s persistence and adaptability because while the message and intent of the prayer remain the same, the language takes a complete pivot. Why? Because throughout history, the Jewish people have been forced to change the way they do their customs depending on the environment they’re in. Jews have rarely been welcome where they’ve gone, so they’ve had to blend into their surroundings and adapt. The Havdalah scene is a great illustration of this unique part of Judaism, and while this may seem sad, it’s the reality of being Jewish, and without this ability to adapt, we wouldn’t be here at all. 

The set remains static throughout the play, apart from the occasional Litvak house, as the sanctuary of the synagogue. When the Litvaks receive their Torah, they begin to envision what their synagogue will look like by traversing the modern-day set.  This is an extremely well-executed scene that doesn’t just use the entire stage to advance the plot but also presents context to the layout of the synagogue.

“Tree of Life” takes risks throughout its runtime. The talent and environment in the play evoke various emotions that contrast with what would have seemed fit. It incorporates unique scenarios toppled with a funny script, to make a play genuinely worth the watch.